Workpieces of the aforementioned type exist for example in the form of round sheet metal blanks or sheet metal blanks which are only able to be formed into the desired shell shape in a complicated and thus expensive manner due to the indicated material properties. As a result of their low weight and good corrosion resistance, titanium and its alloys in particular are consequently used for fuel tanks and the like in the aviation and aerospace industries. However, the titanium-β alloys which are particularly suitable for this purpose are difficult to use in a cold-forming process. These alloys namely have an exponential tensile stress-strain behaviour. It is fundamentally only possible to form such materials into thin shells, in particular into a hemispherical shell, or into a hemisphere-like shell shape via pressure forming since the high-strength, light materials and their corresponding properties would otherwise be damaged. Such methods are also referred to as net-shape methods.
In general, EP 0 457 358 A2 describes a method and a device for metal spinning. It proposes clamping a blank of difficult to form material at the periphery and using a motion-controlled spinning tool 3 to curve it freely, i.e., without the use of a spinning chuck, into a free space to the final dimensions. A similar method and device are known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,051 in which forming without the use of a spinning chuck is also described. DE-OS 1 527 973 also teaches a similar method for producing surfaces of revolution without the use of a spinning die.
GB 2 302 832 A describes a method and device for metal shaping. In this known method, a blank is held by a centrally situated counterpunch on a rotating spinning die. The blank is formed via a spinning roller which follows a certain contour and forms the blank according to the shape. Such a method is not usable for forming materials of the type recited at the outset having a particularly high material tensile strength.
EP 0 593 799 B1 describes the forming of workpieces from the indicated materials. In particular, the specific forming problems are discussed in detail. In addition, the problems of other forming methods in the case of workpieces of the indicated materials are elucidated in detail. EP 0 593 799 B1 and parallel U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,964 teach a simpler and more cost-effective method for cold forming a material having an exponential tensile stress-strain behaviour into hollow shells having a low wall thickness. As a result, a sheet metal blank is clamped on the periphery and is rotated about its centre line via a drive. The rotating sheet metal blank is formed between a first and a second path-controlled spinning roller acting on opposite sides of the sheet metal blank and is cold-formed into a shell solely by local pressure forces. The relative velocity between the workpiece and spinning rollers and the force exerted by the spinning rollers on the workpiece are matched to one another such that tension forces applied to the workpiece are less than the yield strength of the material. According to this proposed method, the material is namely not exposed to any tension forces in the plastic area and the material is formed exclusively by pressure forces exerted on the workpiece by the two opposing spinning rollers.
This proposed method renders it possible to use cold forming to produce hollow shells having a large diameter and a relatively thin wall thickness to the final dimension without fatigue cracks or bulges being able to be detected and without occurrence of the problems resulting from heating of the material. A reason for this is that the achievable high cold-forming degree effects a grain refinement in the structure of the titanium-β alloy which then results in high strength and toughness so that the supporting cross section and thus the weight are able to be further reduced. In addition, the high cold forming degree in the peripheral direction results in a change in the texture of the original rolling direction of the cold-rolled sheet metal blank so that the risk of distortion due to residual stress associated with this texture is reduced. The pressure forces to be exerted via the spinning rollers are able to be regulated very precisely so that shells having a constant wall thickness as well as having a wall thickness varying over the periphery of the shell may be readily produced. As a result of the use of spinning rollers opposite one another, the occurring springback may be controlled so precisely that shells having very high dimensional accuracy are able to be produced. However, many “forming passes” may be necessary to achieve the desired shell shape, thereby making the method time-intensive and consequently also entailing relatively high manufacturing costs. It should be noted here that in this case the term “forming pass or forming steps” refers to the moving or passing through of a spinning roller from its starting position (in the area of the centre line of the workpiece to be formed) to its end position (near the periphery edge of the workpiece).
Finally for the sake of completeness, U.S. Pat. No. 3,248,918 is mentioned here. It describes a method for forming reflectors. In this method spherically formed metal reflectors are to be produced without a die which is referred to as expensive. In this case a flat circular blank of a metallic, radiation reflective material is clamped by a clamping means. The clamped sheet metal blank is rotated in order to bend the outer edge over. The thus pre-formed sheet metal blank is then secured again via other clamping means, is rotated again, and is then formed into the desired shaped. Forming special materials of the type recited at the outset having an exponential tensile stress-strain behaviour is obviously not possible using this method.